‘Boredom’ main reason why two-fifths made effort to quit social media last year

Two in five people stopped using at least one social media platform either permanently or temporarily over a 12-month period, a study by Deloitte shows.

The professional services firm’s survey of 1,000 consumers in the Republic found 42 per cent made a move to break their social media habit. Of those who did, the most common reason cited was “boredom” with the content they found there.

This was followed by reasons such as “too much fake news”, the content being “too negative”, a reaction to how much time they were spending on the platform, privacy concerns, “because it didn’t make them feel good about themselves” and harassment or bullying, which was mentioned by 5 per cent of those who quit.

The Deloitte Digital Consumer Trends report also found that three-quarters of respondents (74 per cent) have access to a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, an increase of 11 per cent year-on-year, with access increasing significantly among over-65s from 43 per cent in 2020 to 57 per cent last year.

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Streaming surge

Netflix is the "overwhelming leader", it said, with 65 per cent of respondents having access to it, up from 56 per cent in 2020. It was followed by Amazon Prime Video, to which 26 per cent have access, Disney Plus (24 per cent), Sky-owned Now (10 per cent) and YouTube Premium (7 per cent).

Some 16 per cent of respondents to the survey, which was conducted in July-August 2021, had cancelled a paid subscription to a video streaming service in the prior 12 months, with lack of use the most commonly cited reason.

Lack of suitable content, a desire to cut back on total subscription spending and the ending of a free trial or discount period were the other main reasons given for cancelling.